A group of twelve Chinese nationals arrived in the country on Wednesday. They made their way across the world to get to Havana, Cuba where they boarded a charter flight to Belize. Their arrival is raising red flags because less than two years ago, a huge scandal broke when private charter flights brought Chinese nationals […]
The Social Security Board will meet this Friday. It will receive the report of an audit done by Pannell Kerr Forster on the allegations of the insider trading at the S.S.B. The future of Merlene Bailey, the C.E.O., is at stake. She remains on suspension since January eleventh when the board found that she had […]
At the start of this month, we brought you the unfortunate story of a five year old boy who was knocked down on a pedestrian crossing by an inattentive driver in Santa Elena. Damion Flowers was on his way to school with other relatives on January twenty-sixth when a Toyota Tacoma ran him over. His […]
Since Monday, several persons have come forward to say that they have received letters from the Housing and Planning Department stating that loans they never made or have already paid were written off. Today News Five spoke with Lawrence Sylvester, C.E.O. in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and he categorically stated that these […]
The Belize Defence Force is having its annual family open day on Saturday. It’s an annual event for family of the force and the public to see some of the work that takes place inside Price Barracks. According to Warrant Officer Class Two Ciego Cayetano, it’s an event that no one should miss. Ciego Cayetano, […]
There’s a developing story tonight, concerning Caleb Orosco, the president of UNIBAM, who is seeking to have section fifty-three of the criminal code declared unconstitutional. Orosco was assaulted this afternoon at the corner of Dean and West Streets in Belize City. Someone hurled a bottle at Orosco, breaking two of his teeth. Orosco has made […]
The body of a Belizean man was found floating on the Mexican side of the Rio Hondo on Tuesday morning. According to the Quintana Roo Journal, forty-five year old Victor Moses Diaz of La Union Village spotted something floating in the water at around six a.m. Diaz alerted the police and the body was recovered. […]
On Tuesday night we reported that Corozal resident, Jorge Escalante, had received a letter from the Housing & Planning Department stating that a loan he had paid off years ago was written off in the recent house mortgage write-offs. Since that news, a number of other reports and letters have surfaced from persons who never […]
Was a seventeen year old in San Antonio, Cayo District, murdered or did he fall in a well and drown? The family of Dimitri Mena believes he was killed and thrown in the well. About a week ago, Dimitri’s body was recovered after he did not venture back to his family house in the village. […]
Remember the write-offs from the Ministry of Housing last year? About sixty million dollars were written off in delinquent loans, but tonight News Five has obtained copies of letters issued by Housing and Planning Department in December that are raising serious questions. Corozal resident, Jorge Escalante is the recipient of one such letter, informing him […]
Twenty-three Conejo Villagers were fired by U.S. Capital Energy, the company that his hoping to strike oil in the southern most part of the country. The mass firings came soon after village leaders became aware that the oil company was illegally conducting groundwork pertaining to seismic testing on lands protected by a court judgment. U.S […]
Another issue that is simmering is the referendum. Over twenty-thousand signatures were collected to propel a vote on oil exploration. Eighteen thousand were required but last week, the Elections Boundaries Commission said eight thousand had been rejected since the signatures could not be verified because of poor penmanship. The signatures were presented to the Governor […]
The intention of the Coalition was to have the referendum on March seventh to coincide with the elections. But at a press conference last week, Prime Minister Dean Barrow out rightly rejected the poll. Dean Barrow [File: February 1st, 2012] “I assume of course that the verification exercise that the chief elections officer is doing […]
A winning lottery ticket that was purchased in Des Moines in December 2010 is now at the center of a criminal investigation in Iowa, USA and it has ties to Belize. The back story is that the winner of the sixteen point five million dollar jackpot didn’t surface until December 2011, just two hours before […]
Down south, the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management today confirmed that twenty three employees from the village of Conejo have been fired from US Capital Energy. While the company did not have a license to explore in the Conejo area, it had began seismic testing and according to a SATIIM release, U.S Capital Energy […]
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations kicked off in London today. It was full of pageantry and color to mark the sixty year reign of Queen Elizabeth. The Queen renewed her commitment of service to the Commonwealth and along with other members of the royal family she will be undertaking numerous activities. On March second and […]
The other big news this week was the rejection of signatures collected by the Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage for an oil referendum. On Thursday News Five spoke to Oceana’s Vice-President for Belize, Audrey Matura Shepherd about the rejection of eight thousand signatures that were needed to push the referendum on offshore drilling. Shepherd […]
Investigations by Pannel Kerr Foster into the scandalous Social Security insider trading are ongoing. The scandal broke early last month when we exposed that select staff members, including the C.E.O. Merlene Bailey, had reduced loans held with S.S.B. in order to benefit in a write-off announced by the Prime Minister of housing mortgages of fifty […]
The book George Price: A Life Revealed, authored by attorney Godfrey Smith was launched on Tuesday in London. In our newscast on Thursday, we aired a report on the event which was held at the Senate House at the University of London. It featured Smith as well as Lord Michael Ashcroft, who spoke fondly of […]
Belizean and Mexican officials met on Wednesday to discuss concerns about local buses crossing the northern border at Subteniente Lopez. Quintana Roo had proposed new regulations to be implemented on February sixteenth that would require buses from Belize to obtain road service permits and insurance to enter Chetumal. After the meeting, however, the Mexican officials […]
Belizean philanthropist and Unsung Hero 2011, Dara Robinson, is paying tribute to musical icon Bob Marley this weekend at two venues across the Jewel. On Saturday, fans of the late musician, those residing in the Sugar City, can look forward to conscious reggae vibrations as they experience live musical performances from Marley and friends on […]
The referendum on oil exploration has been rejected. It’s a major setback for the Belize Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage that collected a total of twenty thousand, one hundred and sixteen signatures to trigger a referendum on oil exploration, both offshore and in protected areas. The Coalition received the bad news on Wednesday when […]
Fourteen public officers, who had not training on calligraphy, were commissioned to scrutinize the petition list of twenty thousand signatures over a period of two months. Tamai says that in some cases the election officers gave participants the benefit of the doubt based on the similarities in handwriting. At today’s press conference, Elections Officer Francisco […]
The Belize Coalition to Save our Natural Heritage intended to hold the referendum on the same day of the general and municipal elections on March seventh. And according to one coalition member, government ministers have already taken to the airwaves to shoot down the initiative. But the coalition will not give up on its movement […]
In London this past Tuesday, attorney and author Godfrey Smith launched the book George Price: A life revealed. The event was organized by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and the Institute for the Study of the Americas. A wide cross section of personalities including Belizeans living in the United Kingdom attended the launch, which was […]
